ISLAMABAD — The U.S. citizen who shot to death two motorcyclists in the eastern city of Lahore last month works with the CIA, said Pakistani and U.S. officials on Monday — a revelation that could further aggravate anti-American sentiment within the Islamic, nuclear-armed nation and complicate Washington’s efforts to secure his release.
Pakistani authorities said they learned of Raymond Davis’ links with the CIA after his arrest on charges that he murdered two Pakistani men who he claimed were trying to rob him at gunpoint, said a senior Pakistani intelligence official who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
New details shared
Until Monday, U.S. officials in Pakistan and Washington repeatedly fended off questions about Davis’ function in Islamabad, instead stating only that he was a member of the “technical and administrative staff” at the embassy in Islamabad and therefore is entitled to diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention of 1961.
After the Pakistani statements Monday, U.S. officials provided some information about Davis’ work in Pakistan. A senior U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity described Davis, 36, a former Army Special Forces soldier, as a contractor with the CIA. Another U.S. official said Davis was a security officer providing protection to U.S. personnel but was not running covert operations.
A U.S. official in Islamabad emphasized that Davis should receive protection from prosecution because he “was designated by our government as a member of the embassy’s technical and administrative staff. That’s all that matters.”
Worried about the potential for large-scale unrest that could erupt if Davis is released, Pakistani authorities have avoided making any definitive decisions on Davis’ claim of immunity and have put responsibility for the American’s fate in the hands of the country’s courts. Davis has been jailed since the Jan. 27 shootings .
The case has created rifts within the country’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party, further weakening its already tenuous hold on governance of a country wracked by militancy and a shattered economy. The Lahore High Court wants the government to make a final determination on Davis’ immunity and report its findings by March 14.
The disclosure that Davis works with the CIA likely will make it more difficult for the Pakistani government to justify the American’s release, given the public’s preoccupation with conspiracy theories about trigger-happy CIA agents and contractors with the American security firm formerly known as Blackwater roaming the streets. It may also complicate relations between the CIA and Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI. Their cooperation includes intelligence sharing that supports Washington’s ongoing drone missile campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border.
Separated in jail
Davis is being held in Lahore’s 4,000-inmate Kot Lakhpat jail, where most prisoners are militants, a U.S. official said. He has been moved to a separate part of the compound, where prison guards have been barred from carrying firearms for fear that one of them may kill Davis, the official said. Dogs are being used to either smell or taste Davis’ food to ensure it hasn’t been poisoned, the official added.
Davis, his wife and young son moved into Highlands Ranch late last summer, said neighbor Gary Sollee.
Sollee said Davis told him he had been in the military but left after developing a lung problem in Afghanistan. Sollee said Davis told him his current work would take him out of the country for long spells. He wasn’t forthcoming with details, and Sollee didn’t press him. “He just said, ‘You can expect me to be gone for a good length of time,’ ” Sollee said. “. . . It was just small talk, kind of getting to know each other.”
Since news of his arrest broke, Davis’ wife and son appear to have left the house and Sollee said he’s now worried for Davis and for his family.
“He came across as just a really nice guy to me,” Sollee said. “I hope the best for him.”
